What is My Autistic Superpower? Almost Complete Immunity to Peer Pressure
I don’t do stupid things just because everyone else is doing them
There are some benefits to being on the autistic spectrum. For example, immunity to peer pressure.
Many people seem to have a built-in need to fit in and for other people to accept them. I seem to be missing that. Or at least it’s significantly reduced.
Here are some examples:
Weird clothes trends
I was a teenager in the 1990s. There was this fashion for not showing the tied part of your laces on the outside of your shoes. People would thread their laces so that they hid the ends of the laces inside. I always thought this was daft, so I continued tying my shoes normally.
A more recent example is having your trousers hanging too low. Particularly the style of tight jeans that hang down a bit. It makes people walk funny.
Almost everyone wears jeans
At some point years ago, I became aware that jeans are the worst trousers to get wet. They hang on to moisture a lot. Because I enjoy the outdoors, I realised that wearing them while out hiking was a bad idea. If it rains, those jeans are going to stay wet for the rest of the day.
For many years, I stopped wearing jeans altogether. I didn’t see the point of even owning any. That has changed a bit in recent years since I found a couple of nice pairs in charity shops. But I don’t deliberately go looking to buy them.
“Casual clothes Friday”
One place I worked at, they would have a day called “Jeans for genes”. They gave us the privilege of wearing casual clothes. All we had to do was donate £1, which went to a charity that did gene research or something. There would be people standing at the entrance holding buckets, ready for you to put your £1 into.
I resented them forcing me into donating to a charity I hadn’t chosen. My attitude was: I do my bit for charity by buying things from charity shops. If I want to donate any more to charities, I’ll do that myself and decide on the charity.
So, on casual clothes days, I would continue to wear my normal work clothes and keep my £1 to myself. I spent a lot more than that in charity shops anyway.
Lottery syndicates
At one place I worked, my whole team joined together in a lottery syndicate. I didn’t join, which surprised them. I tried to explain how minuscule the chances were of them winning, even in a syndicate of about 15 people.
In hindsight, I should have placed bets with them all that they weren’t going to win the lottery. That would have shown them!
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